Rming Blog

Most states exclude certain types of workers from workers’ compensation coverage. The nature and scope of these exclusions vary somewhat from state to state. Check the workers’ compensation law of your state—or ask your workers’ compensation carrier to do so—to see how these exclusions operate in your state.

1. States With Employee Minimums

The workers’ compensation laws of several states exclude employers having fewer than a designated number of employees. In other words, if you have fewer than this minimum number of employees, you don’t need to obtain workers’ compensation insurance for anyone—employees or ICs. 

State Requirements for Workers’ Compensation Coverage

State	Employees Required
Alabama	five or more
Arkansas	three or more
Florida	four or more (one or more for construction trades)
Georgia	three or more
Michigan	three or more
Mississippi	five or more
Missouri	five or more
New Mexico	three or more
Rhode Island	four or more
South Carolina	four or more
Tennessee	five or more
Virginia	three or more
Wisconsin	three or more

2. Casual Labor

Most states exempt casual workers from workers’ compensation coverage. Who qualifies as a casual worker varies from state to state. In most states, casual labor is for a brief time period and is outside the hiring firm’s usual course of business. These states include Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Montana, Nevada, New Jersey, New Mexico, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oregon, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, Wisconsin and Wyoming.

EXAMPLE:  The Acme Widget Company hires Sue, a caterer, to cater a retirement dinner for Acme’s president. Catering is outside Acme’s usual course of business—manufacturing widgets. And Sue is hired for a temporary period—to plan a single event. Sue would qualify as a casual laborer under most state laws and would not have to be covered by workers’ compensation.

This exception is narrow. For example, people hired to do temporary maintenance or repair work would generally not be casual laborers because such work is usually considered part of a firm’s normal course of business.

EXAMPLE:  A partition broke at a soft drink distributor’s place of business, smashing hundreds of bottles. The firm hired two workers for a single day to clean up the bottles. The workers were not casual laborers because such clean-up work was a regular part of a soft drink distributor’s business; such breakage was an inherent risk of the business.

Some states have more liberal rules. For example, New Jersey excludes from workers’ compensation coverage all types of work that are not in the hiring firm’s usual course of business, whether they’re casual or not—that is, temporary or transitory.

To find out about your state’s law, contact your state workers’ compensation office.

3. Domestic Workers

The states listed in the chart below require that domestic workers who work in private homes be covered by workers’ compensation if their salary and/or time worked exceed a threshold amount. States not listed in the chart exclude from workers’ compensation coverage these domestic employees. Domestic or household workers include housekeepers, gardeners, babysitters and chauffeurs.

Workers’ Compensation Requirements for Domestic Workers

State	Domestic Workers Who Must Be Covered
Alaska	All, except part-time babysitters, cleaners and similar part-time help
California	All who, during 90-day period preceding injury, work 52 or more hours or earn more than $100
Colorado	All who work more than 40 hours per week for five or more days per week for one employer
Connecticut	All who work more than 24 hours per week for one employer
Delaware	All paid $750 or more in any three-month period by single private home
Hawaii	All whose wages are $225 or less during the current calendar quarter and during each completed calendar quarter of the preceding 12-month period
Illinois	All who work 40 or more hours per week for 13 or more weeks during a calendar year for any household or residence
Iowa	All who earn $1,500 or more during the 12 months before an injury
Kansas	All, if employer had a $20,000 or more gross payroll for all employees (domestic and non-domestic) during the preceding year
Kentucky	All if two or more work in a private home 40 or more hours per week
Maryland	All paid $750 or more in any calendar quarter by single private home
Massachusetts	All who work 16 or more hours per week for one employer
Michigan	All employed more than 35 hours per week for 13 weeks or more during the previous 52 weeks
Minnesota	All who earn $1,000 or more in any three-month period or $1,000 or more in any three-month period during the previous year from the same single, private household
New Hampshire	All
New York	All employed by the same employer for 40 or more hours per week
North Carolina	All, if employer employs 10 or more full-time non-seasonal workers
Ohio	All who earn $160 or more in any calendar quarter from one employer
Oklahoma	All, if employer had a $10,000 or more gross payroll for all domestic employees during the preceding year
South Carolina	All if four or more domestic workers are employed, except employers whose total annual payroll the previous calendar year was less than $3,000
South Dakota	All employed 20 or more hours in any calendar week and for more than six weeks in any 13-week period
Utah	All regularly employed for 40 or more hours per week by the same employer
Washington	All if two or more domestic workers are regularly employed in a private home 40 or more hours per week